Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 8

Self-actualization is an acquired taste, like dark bittersweet chocolate or wine.

So don't be too surprised if it feels more bitter than sweet the first few years. This is normal. As you get deeper into it, your tastes will mature, making self-actualization less of a grind, and more organic. Eventually, it will become a seamless part of your life on an hourly basis. Mindfulness, contemplation, observation, reading, learning, fine-tuning your habits, taking notes, etc. will just become things you do, and wouldn't dream of ever not doing.

Since I'm releasing this multi-part video series about the good aspects of psychedelics, I thought it would be honest to balance that out by detailing some of the downsides. Even though I'm very positive about psychedelics overall, they do come with risks, especially when people start using them without doing proper research.

Psychedelics are very safe ONLY IF you follow proper protocol and approach them with a careful attitude. Handle them as you would handle a loaded firearm, and you should do great.

Top risks (in no particular order):

Consuming rare, exotic, untested research chemicals

Buying research chemicals from an unverified online chemical company

Not using drug testing kits on every new batch of substance you buy

Overdosing through sloppiness & not researching dosages thoroughly

Not using an accurate milligram scale to weigh your doses

Using the wrong route of administration (ROA) for your substance

For example, snorting freebase or smoking salt forms of the substance

Tripping in a loud party environment

Getting caught by law enforcement

Using psychedelics which cause loss of motor control (like Salvia) without a trip sitter

This may sound like a ton of serious risks. But keep in mind that I simply made a list here of all the risks I could possibly think of for the sake of being balanced and truthful. This is a very comprehensive list. Most human activities involve long lists of risks, if we are very honest. For example, one the risks of marriage is that your spouse might kill you. One of the risks of cooking is burning your house down. One of the risks of eating at your favorite restaurant is food poisoning. But these are very remote probabilities if you approach things with intelligence.

95% of the risks above can be easily avoided just by having a serious, respectful attitude towards these substances, as you would for a strong prescription medication, a sharp knife, or a frying pan with hot oil.

Nearly all the dangers above stem from underestimating the incredible power of consciousness. If nothing else, psychedelics will teach you humility.

If you aren't experiencing at least a handful of moments per year where you look back on something you said or did and think to yourself, "OMG! That was so embarrassing, so cringe-worthy", you aren't really growing.

When you're really growing, this will happen even with things you said or did just 1 month ago. You will look back on it and recoil in discomfort at your own stupidity, arrogance, cruelty, or lack of perspective.

Rapid growth means rapid obsolescence, with shorter and shorter intervals between old and new models. Look at a picture of an iPhone from 10 years ago. Or a laptop from 20 years ago. "Ewwwww...." is right! Because the rate of growth in these technologies has been astronomic.

As each month passes, I can hardly look at my own videos any more. They are so embarrassingly ignorant and crude compared to what I know today. And today will just become the next yesterday.

If you're starting to see this manifest in your own life, don't get discouraged by it. Although it feels icky and embarrassing, the good news is, it's a clear sign of growth. Our aim in this work isn't achieving a state of perfection, but constantly growing a bit each week. It's really not your fault. The reality is, we're all just way too ignorant to be perfect. Many cringey mistakes will be made. The more cringe you get out of your system, the less there will be to bog you down.

Judge yourself by the delta between your past and current work, not by your past work itself. Although I feel bad about the videos I released 2-3 years ago, I feel good about having grown so much.

What should really alarm you is if you look back on your work from 1 year ago and think, "Wow! Such great stuff!"

My friend Joseph Rubano is hosting his annual Enlightenment Intensive in the San Diego area on October 19-23rd 2017.

An Enlightenment Intensive is a hardcore 3 day retreat where you do nothing but self-inquiry exercises all day long, for 3 solid days! Good meals and housing is provided.

If you're serious about enlightenment, this is one of the best ways to make a lot of progress quickly.

If you're near San Diego, or even want to fly in for the weekend, it's worth the trip, even if you have to fly cross-country. Joseph is a master with decades of experience guiding people. I've attended his intensive in the past.

It's a very intimate, small group setting. 10 spots left out of the maximum 16. The pricing is very reasonable and flexible. This is not a commercial operation, and this is not an advertisement. I get no money from this. I just wanted to share this opportunity with you.

With anything you're angry about — and I do mean ANYTHING — you can stop and ask yourself, "What aren't I understanding about this situation? What is the bigger picture that I'm missing?" and I guarantee that you can find a bigger picture which makes you go, "Oh, of course... This is exactly as it must be. Reality is functioning perfectly so there's nothing to be angry about."

You could be getting nailed to a cross, and still find this understanding.

Now... whether you actually find this big picture, and how quickly you find it, is another matter. That will depend on your level of knowledge of the world, your level of personal development, and how much consciousness work you've done. Don't expect to always find it if you're a newbie to this work. But it is there to be found all the same. Which is nice to know. It's easier to solve a puzzle when you're sure it has a solution.

One way to see anger is as the result of too narrow of a perspective. The whole problem is, the mechanics of reality are so ingenious and epic, they dwarf the human mind. If you saw the mechanism in its entirety, you'd melt into a puddle of goo.

And don't forget, if you're unable to find the wider perspective, that's also part of the mechanism.

It's safe to start assuming that reality is perfect. The only imperfections are how you relate to it. And even those imperfections are perfect.

Disclaimer: Advice and information is provided on this site as-is and may not suit your specific circumstances. We are not liable for any potential damages that may be incurred from this information. Always consult a licensed professional for serious psychiatric or medical conditions.